Kansas City Royals slugger and Florida Gators legend Jac Caglianone will participate in the 2026 Home Run Derby, he announced Wednesday.
Caglianone joins Tampa Bay Rays third baseman Junior Caminero and New York Yankees first baseman Ben Rice as participants announced so far.
In his second season in the majors, Caglianone is batting .258 with 14 home runs, nine of which came in June. During a five-game span from June 18-23, he homered six times, including two multi-homer games.
Caglianone, Florida’s most prolific power hitter in program history, launched 75 home runs in two and a half seasons in Gainesville, surpassing Matt LaPorta’s program record of 74.
In his first full season at Florida in 2023, he set a program and BBCOR-era record with 33 home runs. A year later, Caglianone broke his own single-season program record by blasting 35 home runs. He also homered in an NCAA-record nine straight games from April 6-19, 2024.
The two-time First Team All-American was selected sixth overall by the Kansas City Royals, tied with John Burke and A.J. Puk for the fourth-highest draft position in program history.
The 2026 Home Run Derby will take place on Monday, July 13th at 8:00 p.m. EST at Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Major League Baseball has introduced a new format for the 2026 Home Run Derby, replacing the timed rounds that had been used since 2015 with a swing-based format. Each hitter will receive 20 swings in the first round and 15 swings in both the semifinals and finals. If a player hits a home run on their final allotted swing, they may continue hitting until they fail to homer.
All eight participants will compete in the opening round, with the top four home run totals advancing to the semifinals. The semifinal matchups will be seeded based on first-round home run totals, with the No. 1 seed facing No. 4 and No. 2 facing No. 3. The winners will advance to the championship round.
Ties in the opening round will be broken by the longest home run hit by the tied players. Any ties in the semifinals or finals will be decided by three-swing swing-offs until a winner is determined.